The most commonly used method for sterilizing surgical instruments and other medical items is to place them in towels which are enclosed in a sheet and taped shut for placement in a sterilizing autoclave. Steam within the autoclave penetrates the porous materials surrounding the instruments and sterilizes the instruments. The moisture is removed by a drying cycle in the autoclave. The sterile package of medical instruments is then loaded onto a plastic covered cart and transported through unsterile hallways to less than sterile wards for use in hospital rooms or to be placed on a shelf for future use. If the pack has not been used in twenty days, it must be returned to the autoclave for resterilization. Two-thirds of the sterilization workload in many hospitals is for items that were not used within the shelf life of the pack. The average cost expended in an autoclave load is fairly significant and presents a very inefficient process with considering the high percentage of nonuse, requiring expensive resterilization.
In addition to nonuse, another factor which reflects the shortcoming of the towel arrangement is that, unless adequate labeling is used, the contents within the towel are unknown. Once the package is opened to check the contents, the sterilization is lost unless the contents are immediately used. Therefore, if the contents are not what the user desires, then the sterilization of that particular package must be repeated.
Some of the prior art proposes placing the packs of instruments from the autoclave into plastic bags to keep contamination away and, hence, prolong the sterile shelf life of the package. These bags are vulnerable to puncture and contain contaminated room air when they receive the sterilized packages from the autoclave.
Although several attempts have been made to improve the system for containing sterilized medical items, they have not proved to be satisfactory and the old approach of wrapping items in towels is believed to still be the method most widely used. U.S. Pat. No. 3,697,223-Kovalcik discloses a system which is a step in the right direction, but remains inadequate. That patent discloses a transparent plastic container, so that items are visible while within the container and the items can be sterilized if stored within the same container. However, a fundamental shortcoming of the arrangement disclosed in that patent is the inadequacy of maintaining sterilization. The lid is said to be tight fitting, but it does not actually provide a seal between the lid and cover. It is suggested that autoclaving tape be utilized to seal the lid to the container; however, such tape does not provide a permanent seal. More significantly, that patent shows holes in the lid for circulation during sterilization and no provision is made for closing the holes. Thus a tight fit between the lid and the container or the use of tape would seem to be of no avail.